For more than 30 years, Crossroads Ministry of Estes Park has stepped in to provide some basic services to those in the Estes Valley.

The nonprofit is one of eight nonprofit recipient agencies of the Northern Colorado Empty Stocking Fund, a holiday fundraising campaign that provides donations to area nonprofits in Larimer and Weld counties. The fund was created by El Pomar Foundation, which is among Colorado’s oldest foundations.

St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in Estes Park started reaching out to residents with a food pantry in 1982, but its congregation realized that the community’s needs exceeded what a single church could provide. With the help of the Estes Valley Interfaith Council, the church and other groups established Crossroads Ministry to exhibit “Christian love by providing basic human services to residents in need in the Estes Valley,” according to the website, www.uwaylc.org/ncesf.

All NCESF funds donated to the Crossroads Ministry since 2007 have been used to provide direct emergency assistance services to low-income households, according to the website. Since 2007, Northern Colorado Empty Stocking grant funds were used as follows:

• $30,569.90 to 99 households for rental assistance to prevent eviction and stabilize daily living situations;

• $3,101.84 to 36 households for utility assistance to prevent or restore utility service disconnects;

• $40,690.97 total assistance to 371 households with an average cost per assist per household of $109.68.

From the website: “The most true lasting impact on Crossroads Ministry and its client households is that 371 households in crisis need had some portion of their needs met, their emergency circumstances resolved, and their living situations stabilized. The most lasting impacts of the Northern Colorado Empty Stocking Fund are to those individuals who received emergency help in their crisis circumstances, one person and one family at a time.”